Psychological WarfareLinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
Psychological Warfare
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Psychological warfare
At the same time that General MacArthur made provision for the PsyWar
planning staff in the Far East Command, the Department of the Army's G2
in 1947 directed the inauguration of a long-range program of extension
courses to be administered primarily to the specialists of the Military
Intelligence Reserve. One such specialty in the military intelligence
career program was psychological warfare.[64]
Parallel with the development of training literature based on World War
II experience, the Army experimented with the use of PsyWar in field
maneuvers. A special unit, called the Tactical Information
Detachment,[65] was formed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
=Organization of Field Operational Units.= Less than a month after the
1950 invasion, the Department of the Army announced the approval of a
new organizational concept for PsyWar field operational units. The new
concept, profiting by the organizational happenchance in all theaters of
operations during World War II, established two functional units: one
for _strategic_ propaganda support, the other for _tactical_ propaganda
support.
=Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet Group.= Although the concept for new
unit organization and function was not conceived overnight, FEC's
Psychological Warfare Section (PWS) with its dual planning and
operating responsibilities pointed up the urgent need for a unit
properly manned and equipped to support full-scale strategic operations
in any area. So the Radio Broadcasting and Leaflet (RB&L) Group was
born. Not only was it designed to conduct strategic propaganda in direct
support of military operations, but it likewise was created to support
the national world-wide propaganda effort when so directed. It was built
on a basic framework of three companies:
_Headquarters and Headquarters Company_, containing the command,
administrative, supervisory and creative personnel necessary for
propaganda operations.
_Reproduction Company_, containing intricate equipment and skilled
personnel capable of producing leaflets and newspapers of varying sizes
and multiple color.
_Mobile Radio Broadcasting Company_, designed to replace or augment
other means of broadcasting radio propaganda.
In 1953 a fourth type company was activated at Fort Bragg, North
Carolina--the _Consolidation Company_. This unit was very flexible and
had the job of creating and conducting PsyWar in support of
consolidation operations in areas under Military Government control.
[Illustration: _Figure 75: UN Propaganda._ In some leaflets used in
Korea, the United Nations emerged as a major point. Here UN lavishness
to South Korea is contrasted with Communist rapacity in the North. The
scene does not remind the reader of slums on our side.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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